European and U.S. antitrust authorities clear acquisition of select Danaher Life Science businesses by Sartorius

On March 18 and March 19, 2020 respectively, the European Commission and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission cleared the proposed acquisition of select Danaher businesses by Sartorius. Both approvals are an important milestone for the transaction originally announced in October 2019, the completion of which is still subject to clearance by the Chinese antitrust enforcement authority of Sartorius as the buyer of the assets. The transaction is now expected to close in the second quarter of 2020.
The businesses to be acquired are part of Danaher’s Life Sciences platform and include various laboratory and bioprocessing technologies that are complementary to the portfolios of both Sartorius divisions. Pursuant to conditions set by the antitrust authorities, the portfolio of businesses to be acquired was expanded to include certain businesses associated with single-use tangential flow filtration systems (including flow kits) and stainless steel hollow fiber tangential flow filtration systems. These businesses will ultimately be a part of the Sartorius Bioprocess Solutions Division. Due to this expanded scope, the purchase price was increased by around 75 million U.S. dollars to approximately 825 million U.S. dollars. In 2019, sales for the entire portfolio were approximately 170 million U.S. dollars.

Read more on Sartorius here.